The SC Republican Party will decide Sept. 7 whether to cancel the state's GOP 2020 presidential primary, which could include Mark Sanford.

Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina governor and congressman who might mount a long-shot challenge of President Donald Trump, said he will attend a political fundraiser Monday in Anderson that will be packed with the president's allies and supporters.

"I'll be there," Sanford said in a telephone interview Wednesday. He said that he is looking forward to "breaking bread" with his Upstate friends at U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan's ninth annual Faith & Freedom BBQ.

Sanford said he also will talk to people at the event in hopes of getting "further clarification" about whether he should run against Trump for the Republican Party's 2020 presidential nomination. He said he plans to make a decision about entering the race by around Labor Day, which is less than two weeks away.

Former SC Gov. Mark Sanford, who up until last year served in Congress, is reportedly considering a 2020 primary run against President Donald Trump(Photo: Island Packet per The State)

A fifth-term Republican from Laurens who is an unabashed supporter of the president, Duncan invited former Trump campaign officials Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie as the main speakers at last year's event.

POLITICS AND POLICY

We cover politics at the local, state and national level and its impact on Upstate SC. Our local journalists strive to keep you informed. Please consider becoming a subscriber. Here's our special offer.

Vice President Mike Pence will deliver the keynote address this year. Gov. Henry McMaster, who was the nation's first statewide elected official to endorse Trump in the 2016 presidential race, and frequent presidential golfing partner U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham also are expected to be at the barbecue.

Sanford, governor from 2003 to 2011, was being eyed as a possible 2012 presidential candidate until his reputation was tarnished when he disappeared for nearly a week in 2009 to engage in an extramarital affair in Argentina while telling his staff he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

After leaving the governor's mansion and going through a divorce, Sanford returned to Congress in 2013. His re-election bid was scuttled last year as Trump tweeted his support for Sanford's primary challenger, Katie Arrington, hours before the polls closed. Arrington was defeated by Democrat Joe Cunningham in the 2018 general election.

Even if Sanford takes the plunge and runs against Trump, there is no guarantee that voters in South Carolina will get a chance to cast their ballots for him. The South Carolina Republican Party's executive committee will decide Sept. 7 whether to cancel the state's GOP 2020 presidential primary.

"You can't control what you can't control," Sanford said Wednesday.

Sanford said he hopes the state will have a Republican presidential primary next February. But if that doesn't happen, he said, debate about government spending and deficits will continue around "kitchen tables" and "water coolers" throughout the nation.